In emergency situations where access into a building or room is critical, such as to save lives or property, for example, gaining access through locked, jammed, or otherwise secured doors must be accomplished as rapidly as possible in order to protect human life and to preserve evidence for use in prosecuting unlawful acts. Currently, the procedure in use to gain entry through locked or jammed doors that open inward is to use a battering ram or heavy hammer to destroy the door. The procedure currently used to open doors that open outward is to pry the door open using pry bars, screwdrivers, and the like. Both procedures in use today take too much time, thereby placing both human lives and/or evidence of a crime at risk. Thus, it is desirable to have a tool that will enable emergency personnel faster access through such doors.
The results of an informal search were minimal. We found a battering ram to be the only specialized piece of equipment dedicated to this specific task.